Completely Rogue
by Opin88
Summary: What if Eren Jaeger had never emerged from the titan body after his first transformation? What if his human body was permanently fused into the titan form when he transformed for the first time? What would have happened to him then? No pairings unless it's canon. PermaTitan!Eren.
1. Chapter 1

**Umm... sorry about the late upload. For those of you who follow me, you'll know that I was saying that I'd upload this on November 1st... and I actually uploaded it on the 2nd. The reason for this is that, on the first, I was ridiculously hung over from a fun Halloween night. Bear in mind that it became that because I was meeting a friend that I hadn't seen for over a year. Yes, I was meeting the irl version of Incendiar Riddle (that's her fanfic account name). The two of us have been irl friends since before either of our accounts were created, so I wanted spend some time with her. As it just so happened, she knew a really awesome bar that we decided to go to (don't worry, nothing bad happened). Therefore, being hung over kind of screwed over anything that I wanted to do on the 1st. I hope you understand!**

**Anyway, this is now going to be my main fanfiction that I'm going to be working on. However, I ask that you all keep in mind that I'm a struggling college student. As such, I will not be able to keep a tight schedule with writing this fic, as I have done in the past. People who know me might recognize that I used to upload once every week (on Saturdays). This will NOT hold true for this fic. I will work on it whenever I can find spare time, but let's just say that my courses don't usually allow for all that much spare time. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy my new fanfiction: Completely Rogue**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

_Kill… I want to kill more… kill more of them… I'll kill all of the titans!_

It was the only thing going through Eren Jaeger's mind as he brutally ripped apart another one of those monstrosities. When it was dead, he looked around so that he could find another titan to kill. This was one of the best dreams he had ever had. Granted, it wasn't like he was happy about being a titan in this dream, but at least it gave him a chance to kick some serious ass!

As he searched, his eyes locked onto a swarm of titans that was completely surrounding a very large building. If he remembered correctly, it was the HQ. Still, he only cared about the titans that were all over the place. He thought he saw something whiz by in the corner of his eye, but it was too small to pay attention to now. He had his target and he was headed straight for it!

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><p>As Connie and Mikasa swung around and back to HQ with Armin, the blonde's mind was racing with ways of everything that could go wrong. He heart almost skipped a beat when it looked like this 'rogue' titan actually spotted them, but if it did, then it didn't seem to care about them. Armin was thankful for that, at least. The last thing they needed was the big guy coming after them!<p>

After a little while longer, it became apparent that they had successfully managed to steer the titan towards the HQ. As Armin expected, the rogue began to fight the other titans that were surrounding the HQ, leaving everyone to be able to retake the supply room when the time came. The seven titans were taken down with relative ease, only Sasha and Connie missing, but the two being saved by Mikasa and Annie respectively. All in all, everything went exactly as planned.

Once they had all refueled and the majority of the cadets had left, Armin began to look around for Mikasa only to find her on top of a building. Shooting his 3DMG up so that he was standing next to her, he saw that she didn't even turn around to face him.

"What are you doing? We have to leave, now!" He said while trying to get her to move. The only response that she made, though, was "Look down there." When he did, he saw the titan that they had used earlier being eaten by the other titans. Somehow, the other titans saw the abnormal as prey, like they saw humans. Also, from what Armin could see, it looked like the titan had pretty much given up because it had been so overwhelmed. There was another thing bugging him in the back of his mind, though.

"Cannibalism?... Can he not regenerate like the others?" The two stood in silence for a moment, watching the titan getting eaten before Mikasa spoke up by saying "This may sound stupid, but I was hoping he'd be the key for us. That he'd help mankind break the cycle; turn the tide just long enough to give us a little ray of hope." Suddenly, the two heard Reiner's voice chime in.

"She's right." They both turned to see that not only had Reiner joined them, but Bertholdt, Annie, and Jean had as well. Reiner continued with "He's too valuable to just let die. There's too much we can learn from him. I think it's perfectly clear our priority should be to ward the scavengers off of him. He's no good to us picked apart." Immediately, though, Jean had something to say about it.

"Are you out of your mind?! We've got a path out of this nightmare and you want to stay?!" He said.

"Think about it. Having an abnormal as an ally would be an incredible advantage, right? A canon's got nothing on a titan that likes to rip apart his own kind." Jean still wasn't convinced, though. However, all that he could say to that was

"You- do you hear yourself? He's not like a new friend!" Meanwhile, Armin could hear more massive footsteps approaching from a distance. Out of curiosity, he turned his head to see what kind of titan was coming. When he saw it, though, his eyes gleamed with recognition.

"Oh no, it's the one that ate Thomas!" Sure enough, the very same blonde, jumping titan was walking right by this whole scene. Armin was about to tell everyone to get out of its potential sight, but then the abnormal that had saved them suddenly rushed forwards, as if it had suddenly regained all of its will to fight! It paid no mind to the titans that were clinging onto it as it rushed towards the one that had eaten Thomas and lost its limbs and the skin around a portion of its ribs to the other titans in the process. Yet, even with both of its arms gone, the titan still fought as it clamped its massive teeth down on the nape of the creature's neck!

Raising its latest kill high, the titan then used the carcass as a weapon and slammed it down onto another titan that was just getting up, successfully killing it. Afterwards, he swung it around again in order to hit another titan, keeping a strong grip on the one that was in his jaw. However, it seemed like the force was too great for the blonde titan, as its head came clean off of the body so that it could slam the other titan into the nearest building. The titan that had killed so many of its own kind obviously realized this, because it dropped the severed head of the blonde one and let loose a mighty roar to the sky!

"Holy… what was that you were saying?" Jean said in shock, barely even realizing what he had said until the titan fell to its knees and then onto its face, wounds steaming. Armin gasped at how it had finally gone down. However, Jean was quick to finish his statement by saying

"'Cause I think it's a moot point now." He then turned around while saying

"Alright, enough of this. Let's leave while we can." As he had his back turned to the others, he continued.

"We're lucky the ugly bastard didn't get bored. We'd have been next on the menu." He waited a moment for the sound of his companions moving, but he didn't hear in. Upon turning around again, he saw that they were all still staring at the titan. Annoyed by their reluctance to move, he reapproached them and said

"Look, a titan's a titan." Before he looked down to it and saw it moving again. It almost looked like it was trying to get up while its eyes were locked with something in the distance. Following its gaze, he saw yet another regular titan heading straight for the abnormal. Armin saw that it wouldn't be able to defend itself against any more titans if this kept up, though, so he turned to Mikasa. Apparently, she had had the same idea, seeing as she was already soaring off with her 3DMG to kill the approaching titan. Soon, the only ones left on the building were Jean and Armin as the others busied themselves with killing the surrounding titans.

While Jean was reluctant to help the titan simply because it was a titan and he was far more cautious of it than any of the others, Armin was more fascinated with the fact that the titan had actually gotten itself back to its knees without its arms. Yet, it simply stayed there, sitting on its knees as it seemed to watch the others zipping around and taking down the titans around it. Finally, when the last regular titan was killed, the abnormal that had saved everyone started looking around. Quickly, its eyes locked with the last regular titan's dissolving corpse and the black haired girl standing on top of it.

Mikasa looked up at the titan to meet its gaze and the two simply stared at each other for several minutes. Heck, it looked like the titan hadn't even noticed that it finally had both of its arms back. This was confirmed when Mikasa started to move because the titan corpse that was decaying underneath her had done so to an extent where it was impossible to stand on anymore. She kept her eyes on the titan's the entire time as she jumped to the side and landed on the ground. As expected, the titan's gaze followed her, but its arms didn't move at all.

Suddenly, Mikasa shot her 3DMG so that she rejoined Armin and Jean on the rooftop. Meanwhile, Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner shook themselves out of whatever shocked silence they were in and followed Mikasa's lead. When all six of them were on the rooftop again, they all looked down at the titan, unsure of what to do or say about the situation. Everyone flinched when the creature shifted its weight slightly. Upon doing so, though, it broke eye contact with the humans and looked at its newly reformed hands as though it really hadn't noticed that they were back.

Afterwards, it used its new hands to stand itself back up to full height. This brought it up to eye level with the humans, successfully scaring all of them. _He's not attacking us… yet he's looking straight at us… why? Why is a titan… not trying to eat any of us?_ Armin thought in wonder. However, he knew that this couldn't last forever. From what he could tell, once the titan didn't have any other titans in the immediate vicinity to kill, it seemed to display intelligence! As terrifying as this was, it was also somewhat intriguing. He almost wanted to see how far this would go.

"Th- thank you. For saving us!" Armin quickly yelled to the titan before withdrawing, leading the others to follow behind him as he scaled the wall. One look back was all he needed in order to tell him that the titan was intelligent after all. It kept its eyes locked onto the retreating humans for some time before it finally looked down, seeming almost sad. Armin tried to brush it off as just his imagination, but it still bothered him.

That titan's gaze just seemed so damn familiar…


	2. Chapter 2

**HOLY CRAP! This is, by far, my most popular story yet! :D THANK YOU, EVERYBODY! However, there's something that I feel like I need to explain. You see, I had a beta. Then I sent them this chapter and they never got back to me... ever... I'm still waiting for their reply. I then managed to enlist one of the reviewers for this story (Polska-1999) as my new beta... then life happened to them... I haven't received a reply from them either. I don't blame them, though, because life happens. (I know this very well because of things like the fact that my aunt might not see 2015 because of cancer) I have searched for more betas, but none of them have replied to me yet, so I'm at a loss. :/  
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**Now, I mention this because it means that this chapter is technically unbetaed. The main reason why I'm so nervous about this is because of my last big fanfic. If you're a fan of mine, then you'll know that all three of my last protagonists were based off of a silent one. This meant that I had to dodge through hoops to avoid dialogue. With this fic, it's the opposite. There's dialogue everywhere and I'm not certain on how to handle it, but I don't want to stop writing this fic because I'm just too obsessed with this idea to stop. If one of you is good with dialogue and wants to help me by becoming my new beta, then please say so in the reviews section. ;)**

**On another note, I'd like to say that this kerfuffle over my betas has actually given me the time to complete chapter 3 as well. The sooner that that one gets betaed, the sooner that it will be out! Speaking of release times, though, there's something that I desperately want to make clear: I'm a struggling college student. I don't have a job, I've almost lost my home within the past couple of months, and I have to keep up my studies on probably the most competitive trade that exists. I'm a culinary arts student (that means that I'm a chef in training) and I barely have any real time to myself because of all of this stress... yet, even chapter 3 of this story is done. *sigh* Please never assume that I've forgotten about this site because every single day that I get home from school, this is the first thing that I check. I'm always trying to write more chapters, so might I kindly request that whomever decided to spam me with just 'Write more chapters' in the reviews take this into account?... Plus the issue with the betas... that had a lot of influence too...**

**Oh, and speaking of guest reviews, I'm about to respond to them now. So, if you're a user or you didn't leave a review last time, then go on ahead for the story. :D**

**Cyborg: Indeed.**

**Hobo: Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Hopefully you read why I didn't update sooner, but I plan on making my updates MUCH more frequent! :D**

**Big fan: There is indeed more! Here you go! :)**

**Guest (x2): Refer to above.**

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><p>Eren collapsed, feeling absolutely exhausted. He fell to his knees before his face collided with the ground. This new vantage point gave him the chance to hear the approaching footsteps coming from right in front of him. Looking up, he saw another titan walking straight towards him. He tried to get up, but was having a great amount of difficulty due to having no arms. By the time he got up, the titan would already be on top of him!<p>

However, before it got to him, it seemed to flinch and fall over, dead. Something had killed it. No… someone other than Eren had killed the titan. He could hear the sound 3DMG all around him, but none of them seemed to be aimed towards killing him. He eventually managed to sit up, but that was just as soon as the last titan in the area was killed. He thought about going off to find more titans to kill, but then something caught his eye: a flash of red.

_Wh- what is that? It almost looks like… _He noticed that, on the final titan's decaying corpse, someone was perched. The more he looked, the more he recognized the person as a soldier… a certain, specific soldier. One who wore a certain red scarf. All he could do was stare at her, wondering why she was there. This was just a dream where he had come up with a really messed up way of killing titans… Mikasa wasn't supposed to be there.

When she looked up at him, he could see a small trace of fear in her eyes for just a moment. She didn't break eye contact as she continued to stare at him. She was too small for Eren to be able to figure out what she was thinking just by her face. Eventually, though, the titan corpse that she was standing on decayed far enough that she had to move off of it. He kept his eyes on her, his mind racing.

_Why is Mikasa here? This is just an impossible dream. Something that would never happen. Is this just a way of seeing how dangerous I could be? Or is it something else? _While his mind kept on going at impossible speeds, he saw that something was going through her mind as well. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to figure it out because she suddenly turned and shot her 3DMG off into the distance, pulling her away from him.

He continued to stare at her, but he could also hear more gear moving around him. Just as he was about to turn to look, he watched as Bertholdt, Reiner, and Annie all came into view and perched themselves right behind Mikasa after she landed on the nearest building. He didn't move, though, until he saw Armin and Jean there as well, almost as though neither of them had even moved in the first place. He started trying to stand up, only to be startled by a sudden increase of weight on each of his shoulders.

_My arms… I thought for sure they had been ripped off by those titans earlier. How are they… NO! I'm not a titan, so why are they back? This is… this is just a dream… _He continued to deny it, even as he stood up in order to get a better look at his tiny friends, who all stayed fearfully silent. _Am I that terrifying, that they can't even move? Am I going to lose control of this dream and end up doing something to them? This is all so fucked up!_ He started to panic, but then a voice rang out above his own thoughts.

"Th- thank you. For saving us!" The familiar voice of his best friend rang out. _Saving them? How did I do that?_ He thought, more confused than ever. Afterwards, they all turned their backs to him, shooting their 3DMG off into the distance and leaving. He watched as they went, but he didn't notice when Armin looked back to him. Instead, he was more focused on figuring all this out.

_Did I really save them? How?_ He looked at HQ. The structure had holes of varying sizes in it, showing that it had been under attack. He remembered punching some titans off of it, but his mind at the time failed to recognize that it was actually the HQ that he was saving, or rather that HQ might have people in it. _So… they were inside? That would make sense… but then… it's so detailed… is this really a dream?_

All of a sudden, he heard massive footsteps. Rearing his head in the direction of the footsteps, he saw a nine meter class titan headed his way. He dispatched it easily, but instead of roaring at his most recent kill, he raised his hands to his face and began to feel. _None of this… feels like a dream. It's all too real… is it really real? Is this what I've become? How?! How am I… a TITAN?!_

To an outside view, it simply seemed as though this massive creature was just standing there, rubbing something out of its eyes. Yet, on the inside, Eren was panicking. He didn't know what to make of any of this. He didn't know what would happen to him if he were to approach anyone now. It was obvious that, while Armin and Mikasa were scared of him, they seemed like they would be willing to understand. That was his only comfort as another titan approached him and he savagely ripped it apart. Afterwards, he once again looked at his hands

_But… if I can kill a titan this easily… then I could still help them. I can help protect them, even if I've become the very thing that I hate most. _With this new resolution in his mind, he looked out to the horizon at all of the titans that were in the distance. _And I can start by wiping out every titan I see…_

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><p>Mikasa didn't know what to think anymore. Armin had told her that Eren was dead, but that titan looked so familiar that it made her stop and stare at it as it watched her. Eventually, though, she forced herself to push it off as nothing more than a coincidence, even though something inside of her was still desperately holding onto a false hope. Just before she and the others descended on the other side of the wall, she took one last look at the creature and saw that it seemed to be more interested in its hands than anything else around it.<p>

"What do you think he is? Really?" She asked her blonde friend in a hushed whisper. His response took a little while, but it came in the same hushed whisper as Mikasa's question.

"I don't know. It's obvious that he's a titan, but he doesn't even act like one. It makes you wonder if there are any more like him and, if so, why have they only chosen now to appear? He definitely has some form of intelligence, but to what extent?"

The two of them were quiet for some time before they began to overhear the discussion of some officers. They recognized one of them as Kitts Woerman, the man that was in charge of the southern part of wall Rose while Commander Dot Pixis was elsewhere.

"We must eliminate it. Their ways have always been mysterious to us; there's no doubt that it's related to the colossal and armoured titans in some way!" The frightened looking man said. Armin immediately turned to Mikasa as they continued walking and continued to whisper at her.

"That may be true, but I don't think we should really count it as the enemy. I mean, it didn't attack any of us when you, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie killed the surrounding titans, so maybe it's not a threat to us."

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU LITTLE TRAITOR?!" Suddenly came the commander's voice. Apparently, Armin hadn't been whispering quiet enough. Commander Kitts drew one of his blades and pointed it at Armin, making it obvious that he had heard _exactly_ what Armin had said.

"Uh- n-nothing, sir!" Armin said as he tried to diffuse the situation. However, this only led to more anger in the superior officer, seeing as he immediately responded with

"DO YOU WANT ME TO RUN YOU THROUGH?! I TOLD YOU TO REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID!" It took Armin a little bit to recompose himself, thinking that this man was obviously overreacting and needed to be calmed down.

"I- I was just saying that that titan ignored every human in its vicinity and seemed to be far more geared on killing the other titans." He said in a calm, but fast voice. This seemed to work in getting commander Kitts to calm down, seeing as he wasn't yelling anymore, but it didn't help that he still saw the titan as a threat. He pointed over the wall that they were still standing atop as he continued with his rant.

"Down there is a fifteen meter MONSTER that is most likely in it with the armoured and colossal titans. If it is indeed intelligent, then who's to say that it wasn't FAKING it in order to get our trust?! Do you have any idea what an intelligent titan could be capable of, cadet? Everybody saw that thing fighting and therefore we all know that its strength and endurance trumps any other titan we've seen before, EXCEPT for the armoured and colossal titans! Doesn't that make it OBVIOUS that it's working with them?!"

There was no way that Armin was going to say that he had a 'gut feeling' or something like that, but he knew that he had to defend his case. Granted, he had no idea why he was risking his life against this man that was all too happy to kill him if he were to step out of line, but he soon realized something that had been bothering him for a while.

"If he really is with the colossal and armoured titans, then how does that explain what the other titans were doing? You say that everyone saw him, so that means that everyone saw him fighting the other titans and that the other titans were fighting _back_! That's right, it's plain to see that the other titans see him as nothing more than food; just like they see us humans. Maybe he didn't attack us because he sympathized with us due to this fact. He has an amazing amount of potential; we could even use him to take back the city if we actually managed to do it right!"

Everyone was quiet for a while as Armin realized that he had started yelling as well. This seemed to set Commander Kitts off again, even though it was a bit different this time. His voice had dropped to a dangerous level of calmness.

"So… you say that this titan may sympathize with us?... What a foolish notion. Who's to say that you're not in on something as well? After all, you're arguing with a superior officer by siding with a titan… I'm sorry." Upon saying the last two words, he gripped his sword even tighter than he had before and started to rush towards Armin. If it weren't for Commander Dot Pixis showing up right then and there and placing a hand on Commander Kitts' shoulder, then Armin and possibly even Mikasa would have died there.

"So sorry, I couldn't help but overhear all this yelling and come to investigate. Now what's this I hear about an intelligent titan? I think I ought to hear this from the ones who seem to have gotten closest to it, don't you?" Commander Pixis calmly said before motioning for Armin and Mikasa to follow him. Only a few minutes later, the three of them were out of earshot of anyone else and the Commander had begun speaking to them again.

"You don't have to worry; I've already been briefed on the situation with this abnormal. While I don't see any reason to kill it, you mentioned that it could help us retake Trost. Now, were you just grasping at straws in order to save yourself, or do you actually think it could be useful?" While Armin and Mikasa were both surprised to hear this, they knew that they would have to be truthful with this Commander.

"Well, sir, both." Armin said "It's not all that much of a plan, but I think that it might be intelligent enough for us to be able to convince it to help us. What I was thinking was that it might be able of lift that huge boulder in the middle of town. We could use it block off the wrecked gate. Th- that was the best idea I could come up with on the spot."

"Hmm… you say you might be able to 'convince' it?" Pixis asked before looking out over the wall in an attempt to spot it. What he didn't expect was to see the abnormal in question staring at the gate and then turning around and staying in that position, almost like it was waiting for something.

"Hmpf!" Pixis said before taking a drink from his infamous flask. "I guess here's where you get try it out."

Armin and Mikasa both gasped slightly at the Commander. Surely he didn't mean for them to climb down there and talk to the titan! Mikasa searched his face for any wavering, but he didn't show any emotion other than contemptment. _So that's why he's actually willing to listen to us. If we fail and get killed, then not only will that be proof that the titan's a danger, but it'll also get rid of what would be considered a couple of traitors._ Armin thought.

"Y- yes sir." Came both of their replies before the two of them turned to descend on the other side of the wall. Neither one having any idea what to expect.

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><p>The onslaught of titans had eventually gotten so intense that Eren had to retreat. That wasn't before he had ripped at least thirty more of them to shreds, though. While fighting, his mind ran purely on instinct, but when he had finally found an area where there were no titans and he could recover, his mind began working properly again. <em>I only need a moment. I can't let them take any more lives.<em> His mind began to wander to what happened the last time the colossal titan had broken down the wall.

He remembered the screams that rang out as everyone fled the oncoming titans. He could never forget what happened after that, but then one part of his mind went back to when he saw the armoured titan break through wall Maria. _It… hasn't come yet… which means it's bound to show up at any moment. If it breaks through wall Rose, then more than just a fifth of the population will die. _Eren stood up, looking at the gate in between the hell that Trost had become and the rest of the human population. The only thing that stood in their way… and it could be knocked down by one single titan.

_No! I'll stop it. I won't let it kill any more people._ He started walking towards the gate. Upon getting there, he stared at it for a moment. _I'll stop its charge and then rip it to shreds if I have to. Whatever it takes!_ He turned his back towards the gate. Waiting and watching for the armoured titan, the last thing he expected was for a couple of soldiers to come flying down on his left side, missing him completely and landing on a nearby rooftop.

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><p>Mikasa was confident in Armin's plan. The only thing they had to do was prove the abnormal's intelligence. It had already saved her once before; why would it try to hurt her now? Still, though, Armin remained right beside her and was obviously scared despite how confident he tried to make himself seem. The first thing they had to do was get its attention.<p>

Leading the way, she jumped off the side of the wall in a way that had her whisk by the left side of the abnormal's head, Armin right behind her. She grappled onto the side of one of the buildings and whipped around to see that the titan had turned its head in response to her as she landed. This, however, led to Armin being less than a meter from its face with it being focused on him. Miraculously, it didn't move as Armin continued on past it and copied her movements, landing him on the same rooftop, right beside her.

A long moment passed as the abnormal just stared at the two of them. Whether it recognized them from only a few moments ago or not was up for debate, but at least it wasn't attacking either of them. When Mikasa felt that it had gotten to an awkward point, she moved towards it and began to call out to it.

"Hey, you! Over here! Come on!" She felt as though her words were lost to the physical distance between her and the titan, but after a little bit, it turned its entire body towards her and Armin. She didn't know what to think until it started slowly walking towards them. She knew that if it got too close, then it could easily kill them, but if they fled, then they wouldn't get a chance to try to convince it to help. She showed no fear as the abnormal approached, getting closer and closer.

Until it stopped. A few steps away from the rooftop that she was standing on, the titan stopped and tilted its head to stare down at the two cadets with its intimidating, blue-green eyes. Eyes that reminded her so much of Eren that she almost wanted to cry. Eventually, though, she noticed its ears twitch and assumed that to be its way of asking what they wanted, if it really was that intelligent after all. Without thinking, she began to speak.

"I've seen you killing other titans before. You even saved me by killing one of them. I even stood in front of you earlier and you didn't attack me… does that… does that mean you're on our side?" She waited for a response or at least something. A quiet rumbling sound came from the titan, almost sounding like a growl, but a non-offensive one. She took a quick look at Armin. Seeing that he was too scared to even say a single word, she knew that she had to continue.

"If you are, then… will you help us?" This time, the titan inclined its head towards the two of them. Armin came to life in that moment and started actually talking to the abnormal as well.

"If you could… pick up that huge boulder over there," He pointed in the direction of said boulder "and block the hole in the wall with it, then the titans would stop coming in!" The abnormal responded by shifting its gaze to the direction that Armin pointed.

"Please! If you don't, then we have no idea what'll happen." Armin shouted up at the titan, making bets on its intelligence. The rest of what he said, though, was in nothing but a worried murmur.

"We'll be executed if this goes wrong…" When he said this, though, the titan whipped its head upwards to the top of the wall where Commander Pixis was still standing and waiting for the results. It stared for a few moments before looking back to Mikasa and Armin. It continued looking back and forth between the two of them until it had turned its entire body in Pixis' direction. Then, staring straight up at the Commander, it did the absolute last thing that anyone had expected it to do.

This… 'rogue' titan clenched its hands into fists and saluted.


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh... my... god... the user named 'Someone Else Took My Name' is the best beta that I've ever had! O_O Seriously, the first two chapters of this were pretty mediocre, but this person just took the third chapter revamped it up to being absolutely amazing! Seriously, a lot of the credit for the quality of this chapter goes to them! Also, I'd like to mention that the bits of dialogue that I strip directly from the anime, I strip from the English dub. I personally think that funimation did a pretty good job with this one, so I don't mind watching the English version. Eren's voice is the only one that really bothers me, but the rest of the cast is absolutely phenomenal, so I see no reason why the dub should be faulted for what it does. Anyways, I'm sure you guys just want to get on with reading this chapter, so I'll let you get to it. After all, out of all the people who reviewed, there were no guests for me to respond to via author's notes. ;) Have fun!**

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

Armin didn't understand. Nobody did. How could a titan possibly be intelligent enough to know what to do? How would it know about saluting and the purpose of it? How the hell would it know that it Pixis was the one in charge and that the salute should be directed at him? It was impossible, but there it was! There absolutely had to be something more to this titan than anyone knew. Whatever it was, though, it had to wait. If this thing was intelligent enough to know that, then it was probably intelligent enough to go through with the plan!

"That… that's…" was all that Armin could say in all of the confusion. Mikasa, though, seemed to get her bearings a bit more quickly.

"Then… just stay here until we come back. We're going to get reinforcements!" She stated before firing off her maneuvering gear towards the wall in order to scale it. Armin followed soon after, feeling the titan's gaze on him. As the wires pulled him up towards the top of the wall again, he looked down and saw the titan relax its arms and turn back around.

* * *

><p><em>I hope that was the right thing to do; I don't want them running away in fear of me. <em>The awkwardness nipped at him as they all stood there in silence. As it waned on, his mind began to wander. Sure, the salute showed that he was conscious and intelligent, but it also showed that he knew about human customs. Would they see his intelligence as a threat? He blinked away the doubt; either way, what was done was done and he'd just have to take the results for what they were. He was sure he could handle it! Suddenly, he heard Armin's voice.

"That… that's…" Armin was absolutely speechless. Eren knew he didn't recognize him, so he understood why he was like that, but it was Mikasa's voice that seemed to bring everyone out of their dazes.

"Then… just stay here until we come back. We're going to get reinforcements!" He didn't need to be told twice. She probably didn't recognize him either, so he stayed still until she was about half way up the wall so as not to frighten anyone. As she continued going up, he dropped his arms and turned back around again to face away from the gate.

_Whatever they've got planned, I want to help them. Armin's bright enough to be able to figure out a way. What was that he said back there? The boulder? If that's our only option, then I'll find a way. I'll do whatever they tell me to do; they'll figure something out. In the meantime, though, I'd better stay ready for the Armoured Titan, should he come…_

* * *

><p>-Ten minutes later-<p>

"Not only that, but we don't even need to send all of the soldiers to look after the Rogue Titan. All we have to do is draw all the regular titans to the corner by acting as bait and then just send the elites to cover it." Armin continued to discuss the plan with his commanders. It hadn't taken them too long to come up with what was drafted up as their final plan. Commander Pixis stood in silence, watching them and listening in on whatever the boy was planning. Once the basic plan was set in stone, he walked over to the other side of the wall.

Looking down, Pixis saw that the seemingly intelligent creature was still standing at the very same gate that it had before. The fact that it had saluted him confirmed that the Rogue Titan had a level of intelligence that was at least on the same level as a human's, but the question still remained as to whether this was a good thing or not. It seemed to be listening to them and following the few orders that it was given, but how long would that last? He took another swig of his alcohol; they had no choice but to hope that it would last at least long enough for this plan to work.

The Commander turned around and walked towards the other side of the wall. As he had previously ordered for, all of the soldiers, garrison members and new recruits alike, were all gathered and waiting for whatever order they were going to receive. Just because they were waiting, though, didn't mean that they weren't going to talk amongst themselves. In fact, there was quite a large amount of chatter among them as many seemed to be discussing whether they wanted to leave or not.

"What are they thinking?"

"We should just cut our losses and spend our remaining time with our families."

"I just want to see my little girl one last time."

"It's hopeless, there's no way we'll survive!"

"I don't want to face them again; I just can't!"

All of the chatter was overwhelming. Among it, Commander Woerman was trying to quell the potential deserters by threatening them with death. The situation was so out of hand that someone might actually get killed. It was fortunate that Commander Pixis was able to rally the soldiers.

"ATTENTION!" Pixis yelled over top of everyone.

"Take note, the blueprint of the Trost recovery operation is this: our primary objective is to reseal the hole. Yes, you heard right. What's more, it will be done manually." He paused to let it sink in, leaving everyone in a stunned silence.

"As for how the task will be done," He continued "that's where a new, abnormal titan comes in. Just on the other side of this gate is what we have officially dubbed the 'Rogue Titan'. Don't let appearances deceive you. This titan does not attack humans, but instead rips apart other titans and shows an insurmountable degree of intelligence when compared to others of its species!" he paused again, pulling up confusion and disbelief in all those gathered. He didn't try to alleviate it, though. Instead, he went on to talk about what it was supposed to do.

"Recall the massive boulder not far from the gate. Following our direct orders, the Rogue Titan will hoist the boulder on its back, slap it to the hole and voila! And this is where you all come in. Your job will be to defend it. Yes, defend a titan against its own kind." The Commander waited to see the soldier's reactions, prepared to say whatever he needed to in order to calm them down or make it easier on them.

From atop the wall, he could hear the uncertain mumblings of the soldiers trying to decide whether to abandon the cause or stay to help. He even heard a few of them yelling back up at him, saying that he was lying. Things really started to get out of control, though, when Commander Woerman started threatening them all with death yet again. Thankfully, Commander Pixis had an idea.

"Anyone wishing to leave will, by my personal order, NOT be charged with treason! Those who have seen a titan first-hand will not be expected to revisit that horror again. Whomever this applies to, you may leave with my blessing. Additionally, anyone with family or loved ones they would spare from the same trauma may also leave. The crown will continue to recognize your service. Thank you and good luck!"

The Commander was not surprised at all to see that they had taken the bait. All he had to do then was put things in a little bit of a perspective for the soldiers, just so that they knew what they were really fighting for.

"Now, think back four years ago. Namely, the operation to retake wall Maria. I bring it up because you all deserve to have your suspicions confirmed. Officially, we labeled it 'reconnaissance', but in fact, as most of you probably know, it was little more than a purge. A thinly disguised exercise in population control.

"We knew this in our hearts, of course we did. Yet, we turned a blind eye. We supported the state-sponsored myth because the deaths of our fellow human beings allowed us to survive. Pure and simple. The guilt is ours; we share the blame, all of us. The citizens of Wall Maria sustained themselves on the wholesale slaughter of the refugees who'd flown to us for help, but turnabout is fair play, is it not?

"If Wall Rose succumbs, the population will fall by a whole other order of magnitude! The lands comprising Wall Sina wouldn't support half the people now living. If we're wiped off the face of the earth, the culprits will not have been the titans, let me assure you. No, no. We'll have done it to ourselves. If the line isn't drawn now, then it won't be drawn at all. If we must die, then let us die here!"

Upon finishing his speech, Pixis withdrew from the edge of the wall to allow Commander Woerman to organize everyone. Hopefully the messenger would make it there soon in order to give him a copy of the plan in more detail. All they had to do at that point was start the decoy operation and then send out the team that would lead the Rogue Titan over to the boulder. Everyone could only hope that it would follow the order it would be given.

* * *

><p>What seemed like only minutes after Armin and Mikasa had left, Eren's mind began to wander. <em>What if I can't do it? Whatever they're planning for me must be big, but what if I just… can't? <em>He thought.

However, it was then that he began to hear something. He had to strain his ears to hear it, and even then, it was just barely audible. It was Commander Pixis' voice that was ringing out over and above everything. The commander was being loud enough that it was obvious that he was announcing something to a large number of people, but he wasn't loud enough to indicate that he was talking over the same side of the wall that Eren was on.

In spite of the fact that he was just barely able to hear, Eren still tried to listen in on the conversation. In the end, he caught the general gist of what was being said.

_That's right, I need to do this, no matter what. He says they're going to try to protect me? Well, at least they're not all running in fear. I don't know if I can, but I have to try my best!_

He continued to wait for instruction, like he had been ordered, until a small squadron flew down to the same building that Armin and Mikasa were on earlier. The squadron consisted of about ten or so people, with there seeming to be three in the lead… and a certain, familiar, red scarf.

_Mikasa? What are you doing here?! You'll get yourself killed!_ _Go back; I don't want you hurt._

Eren instinctively tried to say these words before he remembered that he couldn't speak anymore. He cut himself off when he did remember, though, seeing as what should have been speech actually just came out as a garbled mess of grunts and growls.

_How can I get my point across? _He wondered before he became aware of a tiny voice speaking to him.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you! Do you even understand me?!" He heard one of the squad leaders, a woman with white hair, yell. He nodded to answer her question. She seemed very surprised by this, but she continued speaking anyway.

"Are you willing to go through with this plan we have to save everyone?" He nodded again. "Well then, you should know what the plan is!" Despite already knowing the plan, he listened to what she said. During the explanation, a titan even approached the group. Once they all noticed that it was there, Eren held up a finger at them, telling them to wait just before he ran towards the titan. He slammed into it brutally, knocking it down.

Eren managed to use the collapsed titan as a prop in order to stay upright, but he had completely cleared it and was standing on the other side of it. It was no problem for him, though, as he just turned on his heel and forcefully slammed his other foot into the titan's neck. Blood sprayed up from the titan's wound and splashed itself all over Eren's torso. The new titan corpse started to dissolve away, as did the blood, but when Eren looked over at the commanders and their elites, he saw most of them flinch.

It took Eren a little while to figure out why, but once the recently dispatched titan's steam passed into his vision, he looked down and it clicked. He figured that the blood would evaporate away soon enough, but they were no doubt scared of him and how utterly brutal he could be. Not only that, but he had also displayed some of his intelligence again! He totally understood why they'd be so scared of him, but there was no way he was going to let them bail on whatever plan they had simply out of fear!

_Shit, I need to convince them that I'm not some sort of threat. _All he could do, though, was wave his hand in a 'continue' gesture. The woman shook herself out her stupor and began speaking again.

"Uh- umm… right, so that's the basic gist of the plan. Do you understand?" He nodded. "Good, then… just follow us to the boulder in question." She turned and used her gear to fly away. All of the soldiers, Mikasa included, stared at him for a short while before following suit. He waited until all of them had set off before he began to follow, just so that he wouldn't end up confusing or scaring them, even though they were pretty much there already.

He didn't even notice that the white-haired woman, who's name he didn't know, had lagged behind until he felt a tiny weight hit his shoulder. While still following the soldiers, he looked at where he had felt the weight and was pretty surprised to see the her standing on his shoulder.

_Is she not afraid? Or is she just betting on the chance that I won't attack her for touching me? I'd never attack someone, but how could she know that?... Well, I guess if she wants a ride, then I'm not going to swat her away or anything. _After a moment, she spoke up again.

"I… see you don't mind. You act remarkably human, y'know. My name is Rico Brzenska… I'm not sure just how much you understand, but whatever you do know, it's probably a lot." He stole a glance at her to show that he was listening. "Something I want you to be aware of: make no mistake. More than a few of our comrades are going to die today trying to pull this off; their blood's on your hands." He looked at her again and ended up accidently destroying one of the smaller buildings by nearly tripping on it before she continued.

She continued to talk about this while Eren listened. He purposely avoided hitting any more buildings, but there were a few times where he came pretty close. He sidestepped around, making it obvious that he didn't want any more destruction than what was absolutely necessary. This seemed to go somewhat unnoticed by the people who were flying around, but at least Rico saw it. She didn't comment on it, though, instead electing to just finish her speech where she had driven the point home and then pounded it for extra measure.

"… Do you understand?" she finally asked. One final time, Eren nodded. He had understood every single word and he intended to make sure that this senseless loss of life would eventually amount to something more than just that. It was only a few more steps from there that brought the both of them to the boulder.

When Eren looked back at Rico, she pointed at it and then dismounted his shoulder, landing gracefully on another building just behind him. Eren watched her, making sure that she was safe before turning to look at the boulder. He only spent a few moments sizing it up and trying to figure out how would be the best way to get it moving. It was after he took a few steps around it that he saw a small flash of red in the corner of his eye once again.

_Mikasa! _He reflexively turned towards her, away from the rock. This obviously made all of the soldiers far more nervous, but what he did next both confused and surprised every single person present, including Mikasa herself. He lifted one of his hands up, unintentionally making it look like he was about to grab her. The couple of other people who were on the same building as her wasted no time in fleeing, but she stayed right where she was.

* * *

><p>Mikasa wasn't entirely sure what to think. This titan, who had not only saved her life, but had also shown a much greater amount of intelligence than any other titan before it, was now making to grab her. The others had already retreated, but Mikasa still stood there, confused. Just as the Rogue Titan's hand was fully within her view, she started to move out of the way only to find it pointing at her. She stopped short, more confused than ever.<p>

The titan remained pointing at her until she straightened herself out and stood to look it straight in its eyes. While she saw the intelligence and brutality that the titan had so eagerly displayed earlier, she could've sworn that she saw something else… something almost… gentle. The titan blinked at her and began moving its hand again, but this time away from her. Not only did it make it even more obvious that it didn't want to hurt anyone, but it also surprised everyone by pointing back towards the wall. It was no doubt trying to communicate, but no one could be sure of what it was trying to say.

"Are… are you trying to tell me to go back?" Mikasa asked the creature. She hadn't expected it to nod, but when it did, she had to do a double take. A few of the superiors joined her, including Squad Leader Brzenska as she continued on asking the creature what it meant.

"Do you mean that I, specifically, shouldn't be here?" It nodded. "Why just me?" The titan raised its hand up again at this, sticking one massive finger out. She doubted that it wanted to hurt her, but as the appendage drew closer and closer to her, she had to fight against her fight or flight syndrome even harder. Despite this, though, she managed to keep her cool when the titan lightly touched her with the tip of its fingernail on her shoulder.

Curiously, she looked to where it was pointing and found that its finger was resting directly on the small part of her sleeve that had the symbol of the trainees on it. Did it know what that symbol meant? If so, then would mean that it was trying to say that she was too inexperienced to be on this type of mission. Either way, that was how the Squad Leaders took it, as evidenced by when Rico started yelling at the titan.

"She just graduated at the top of her class! Her skill rivals most of ours, so she was given special orders to accompany us. Just because she's still technically a trainee doesn't mean that she's not capable! Remember what I said to you?! Now please lift that boulder; the more time we spend here, the more other people die out there!" The titan flinched somewhat upon hearing her yell, although it was obvious that it just hadn't been expecting it and it had just gotten a little bit startled.

That flinch was enough, though, to jerk its hand upward slightly before it jerked back, nicking Mikasa's face. The instant that it happened, the girl turned her head and put a hand to the scratch. It was deep, but it was likely that the titan hadn't even noticed. She looked back up to it to see its eyes widen and the rest of its fingers uncurl from its hand. Its mouth opened just slightly, as though it were shocked.

The beast tilted its head just slightly, as though it were trying to get a better look at her. From what Mikasa could tell, nobody doubted at that point that it had intentionally hurt her. If it had wanted to do that, then it could have done much, much worse. Still, it seemed more concerned about her than the boulder. The titan's hand didn't move any closer to her, so she remover her own hand from her face, showing the cut.

Either the titan was overconcerned about her or it just had really good eyesight, because as soon as she did so, its eyes widened even more. It drew its hand back and even took a step away from the building, almost like it was ashamed that it had hurt her. She had to do something.

"I- It's nothing. Just please get back to the plan. All our lives are riding on you!" She shouted up at the Rouge. It looked at her for a moment before shamefully looking away again and nodding. It then looked back at the boulder and blinked a few times before moving around it to the spot that it seemed to think was easiest to grab. As it began trying to lift the boulder, it became obvious that it was quite the struggle, but the titan wasn't going to give up!

The creature powered through by sheer force of will and somehow managed to hoist the massive boulder on its back. As it began to walk towards the broken gate, steam started to erupt from various parts of its body, including its feet and legs, giving the beast an almost ethereal look. From its body language, though, Mikasa could tell that each step was painful. Yet, the titan still managed to take the next one and keep going, its willpower seemingly unshakable. It seemed almost familiar to her...

* * *

><p><strong>See? Quite the jump in quality, eh? (yes, I'm Canadian) Anyways, please tell me what you thought with a review below, because it might be a while before chapter 4 is going to be up. Why? Because college life, that's why. : Oh well, at least I'm able to give you a fair warning. Thanks for sticking with me! :D**


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